Oman’s first privately held fertilizer plant is to be built by Krupp Uhde of Germany. The $600 million Sohar ammonia/urea fertilizer project is developed by the Muscat-based Suhail Bahwan Trading Company (BTC) and will be run by its newly formed subsidiary Sohar International Urea and Chemical Industries (SIUCI).

The German engineering group won the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract, outbidding Toyo Engineering Corporation of Japan and a consortium made up of Italian giant Snamprogetti with Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, reported Reuters.

The plant, which is expected to go on-stream by mid-2006, will produce 3,500 tons per day (tpd) urea and 2,000 tpd of ammonia, is expected to take 35 months to complete. The US-based Transammonia has already committed to a long-term take or pay offtake agreement for Sohar’s entire production of urea.

Krupp Uhde, a subsidiary of Thyssen Krupp, failed in 1988 to outbid Snamprogetti for a $800 million turnkey plant and equipment contract for the Sultanate’s first fertilizer project. The $1.2 billion Indo-Omani joint venture in Sur is expected to produce 1.65 million tons of urea and 248,000 tons of ammonia per year.